Page 6 of Deadly Secrets
Chapter Two
Nearing midnight, Brooke sat in his Jeep as Roman covertly finished signing off with the locals, Feds, and Cooper Harris. Harris’s taskforce had been working on a budding crime syndicate from Guatemala that had teamed up with MS-13 and he’d called Roman to see if he still had contacts inside the vicious Mexican gang. Not only did he still have a CI inside, he knew exactly which one wanted out of MS-13 and would flip on them.
He just hadn’t realized Cornell and his biker gang had expanded their territory until he’d seen the man and his goons enter the bar.
In the end, however, Roman had saved Augie and taken down Cornell, who was still alive but not going back to his gang anytime soon. Both men would receive medical care, and Augie would get off with a light sentence if he helped Harris and his team with info on the Guatemalan gang.
“Thanks, man.” Harris slapped Roman on the shoulder. They stood out of sight of the cop cars and bystanders. Since Roman couldn’t publicly take credit for Cornell without blowing his undercover identity, Harris would get the credit.
Works for me. “Augie’s not a bad kid, just mixed up in this crap because it’s been part of his family for generations. Try not to get him killed.”
Harris tilted his chin in Heaton’s direction. Roman’s Jeep was in the corner of the parking lot, away from prying eyes. “Sure she’s okay?”
One of Harris’s taskforce members, Ronni Punto, was in the Jeep talking to Brooke. They’d worked together, Dr. Heaton consulting on several SCVC Taskforce cases involving violent crimes and religious terrorists. Roman was just a little jealous. “I offered to have her checked out and she refused. Claims she’s fine and just wants to go back to her hotel.”
Which sounded perfect to him, even though he had a snowball’s chance in hell of getting himself invited to her room.
“If she were working a case for me,” Harris said, “I’d require a psych eval. The good doctor is a tough cookie, but she’s not a field agent. Being shot at is not in her usual line of duty.”
“That’s just it, she’s not on the DTT. I can’t require her to do anything.”
Harris frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. “She wasn’t working with you tonight? And here, I thought you’d stolen her from me, which by the way, sort of pissed me off.”
Roman shook his head. “Don’t get your panties in a bunch, Harris. She’s doing a lecture circuit at SDSU. Apparently, she came out with some of her nerd friends tonight andbam. Right time, wrong place.”
“Didn’t you try recruiting her?”
“Tried, yes. I need her on The Reverend case, but she won’t take my calls.”
“Huh.” Harris grinned good-naturedly. “She always takes mine.”
The jealousy in Roman’s stomach amped up a notch. “She doesn’t seem to like me, but for the life of me, I can’t figure out why.”
“You saved her life, tonight.” Harris winked. “My guess? She’ll be more than happy to take your calls now.”
Roman’s mood lifted as he gazed at the car. “You think?”
Harris chuckled. “I sense that you’d like Dr. Heaton to do more than consult on your taskforce.”
Boy, would he. “If my Bruce Willis act tonight didn’t seal the deal, nothing else will.”
“Take it from me, she’s more of an Indiana Jones kind of gal. You might try that instead.”
Indiana Jones, huh? Roman stuck out his hand. “Thanks for the tip.”
Harris shook it. “Good luck, man, but I’d be lying if I said I was happy about sharing her.”
As Harris walked away, Agent Punto emerged from the car and headed toward Roman. She slowed as she neared him, but didn’t stop. “She’s totally lying about being okay.”
“Is she hurt?”
“She’s freaked.” Punto stopped a few feet away, watching two Feds talking near the crime scene tape. “You need to put her to work.”
“Contrary to popular opinion, she’s not on my taskforce.”
“Then get her on it,” Punto said. “She needs a case to get her mind off what happened here tonight, and we don’t have any that require her expertise at the moment. If she sits in her hotel room and stews, she’ll never feel safe helping any of us again.”
She shot him one searing look and went to join Harris.
